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The elected members of the U.S. Congress will soon vote on whether the country should send missiles into Syria, intervening in a war that has already claimed the lives of over 100,000.

One would think that the matter before the Congress would at least command their attention. But, as the Senate conducted a hearing today to discuss the details of the strike, and the arguments for and against it, Sen. John McCain took out his iPhone and played poker to pass the time.

When he learned of the picture, McCain posted a flippant response to Twitter. “Scandal!” he wrote. “Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing - worst of all I lost!”

While he may have made up his mind on the strike (he said yesterday he is confident in the direction the White House is moving), McCain’s game playing projected a certain lack of seriousness about a major strategic military decision. And, when some on Twitter saw his tweet, they lashed out in response:

“Haha, you're right!” wrote Digg’s David Weiner. “It's absurd to expect someone who pushed us into two, now maybe three wars to give his full attention!”

“OUR LEADERS ARE SHAPING THE COURSE OF HISTORY,” wrote Carlo Johnson of Brooklyn, New York.